New dispute over broadcast directive

Date: 06/06/1996

By Fiona McHugh

ITALY is planning to take its partners to task for flagrantly ignoring changes proposed by the European Parliament to the EU's broadcasting directive.

In a major volte-face, Rome's new centre left government is threatening to vote against a draft common position agreed in principle by its predecessor last November and due to be adopted formally at a meeting of culture ministers next week - although diplomats say it is unlikely to go that far.

“We are trying to make a political point,” explains a member of Telecoms Minister Antonio Maccanico's cabinet. “The Parliament is supposed to share decision-making power on this issue, and yet its wishes are being ignored. It is not acceptable.”

But, rather than risk the wrath of its partners, Italy may at the last minute opt for a more diplomatic approach - the adoption of a political statement.

Even if it chooses to swim against the tide, Rome will not be able to block the common position which requires the support of a qualified majority of member states, not unanimity. Even so, the new government's stance has infuriated its partners, who accuse it of seeking to scupper their hard work to achieve its political aims.

“This concern for the Parliament is a sham. It just so happens that the new administration is closer to the Parliament's position than to the Council's,” said a UK diplomat. “They are raising these concerns five days before the meeting, which really is extremely destructive.”

Italy's policy change plunges a piece of legislation which has been dogged by bitter disputes since its revision began over a year ago into more hot water.

Rome wants the Council to give ground on, for instance, the scope of the directive by extending it to new online services, but so far its partners have been unsympathetic. MEPs have called for the broadcasting rules to cover services such as video-on-demand and teleshopping, a prospect viewed with horror by most member states. Italy has not suggested, however, a tightening of the EU's television quota regime - a contentious proposal previously promoted by France and supported by MEPs.

Luciana Castellina, chairwoman of the Parliament's culture committee and member of the Italian Communist party, has complained bitterly to her party in Rome, encouraging the government to vote against the Council position.

The Parliament, which shares decision-making powers with the Council on this directive, sees ministers' refusal to budge on the draft position which was adopted last November as a rebuff. They are also still smarting over the Council's decision to jump the legislative gun by delivering a political verdict on the directive ahead of the Parliament.

Castellina, who has accused both the Commission and the Council of seeking to sideline the Parliament, will pile on the pressure at a meeting with Culture Commissioner Marcelino Oreja next week.

Member state negotiators (apart from the Italians), although of one mind on quotas and the sweep of the directive, have not yet reached agreement on proposed advertising rules contained in the directive.

The UK is anxious to keep restrictions to a minimum, while France and others want to toughen them up.

A separate Paris-sponsored plan aimed at helping European film-makers fend off competition from Hollywood, has also proved something of a non-starter.

The so-called guarantee fund proposed by the Commission was supposed to have been a new market-led alternative to protectionist measures such as quotas. It would have provided for a 200-million-ecu fund to be handed out as loan guarantees for small film companies.

But finance ministers from the Netherlands, Germany and the UK, who see the proposal as a way of reinstating money cut from the Media II budget through the back door, are refusing to approve it. They are not convinced the loans will attract the necessary private sector investment and are worried that the money will end up in the wrong hands.

The Commission has agreed to rework the guarantee plan by the autumn, but culture ministers are likely to get a sneak preview at next week's meeting.